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No. 25-seed Cherokee Trail continues Cinderella run through Class 5A state tournament, beating Rock Canyon 10-9 in eight innings to advance to title game

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

LAKEWOOD — Jonathan DiGiorgio got to his team’s postgame huddle at All-Star Park and was so out of breath he bent over. Finally, after taking a couple moments, he stood up and mustered the few words he had energy left for.“Hey,” the Cherokee Trail coach said, panting. “How ’bout that 25 seed!?!?”The Cougars swarmed their coach after that, hooting and hollering, after beating Rock Canyon 10-9 in a see-saw, extra-inning instant-classic to advance to the Class 5A title game on Saturday against Valor Christian. “We’ve been battled tested all year,” DiGiorgio said. “This team has stuck together and won together all season, and we did it again today.”Cherokee Trail, the No. 25 seed coming into the playoffs, upset its way through regionals before knocking off top-seeded Broomfield to start the state tournament last weekend. The youthful Cougars, who feature six underclassmen in their starting lineup, were down to their...

Meati Foods, maker of alternative meat products, cuts 5% of workforce

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

A Boulder startup that produces a meat alternative and earlier this year opened a plant in Thornton laid off 17 people, or about 5% of its 300 employees this week.Meati Foods said in a statement Thursday that it eliminated the positions after deciding how to best allocate its resources.“These changes were not made lightly. The individuals leaving our company have been instrumental in contributing to Meati’s success, and we are working to ensure they receive adequate care and assistance as they find new opportunities,” the company said.Meati Foods started in 2016. Co-founders Tyler Huggins and Justin Whiteley were both doctoral students when they began researching the use of mushroom root as an alternative protein source to boost nutrition and address hunger.The company uses a fermentation to process the mushroom root, which it cooks, seasons and forms into what it calls cutlets and steaks. Meati’s customers include Sprouts Farmers Market stores and Birdcall fast-fo...

CHP captures catalytic converter theft suspect after high-speed chase

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

The California Highway Patrol pursued an alleged thief from Ventura County to Woodland Hills Friday afternoon, eventually bringing the vehicle to a halt with a PIT maneuver.The vehicle, a dark-colored Toyota Prius, was associated with a catalytic converter theft in Camarillo, said Capt. Worthy of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.When deputies tried to pull the Prius over, the driver sped away. The CHP then took over the chase.The Prius spent parts of the chase on the 101 Freeway, regularly remaining above 80 mph and at times nearing 100 mph.The vehicle suffered rear damage that left its bumper hanging behind the car, though it remains unclear how that damage was caused.After a few minutes, the driver then pulled onto surface streets, namely Ventura Boulevard, where it weaved around traffic and blew through red lights.By about 2:10 p.m., the Prius was trapped by CHP vehicles, one of which conducted a PIT maneuver to bring the pursuit to a halt at De Soto Avenue and Ventura Bouleva...

USPS releases its annual dog bite rankings — where California ranks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

United States Postal Service mail carriers have to put up with snow, rain, heat and gloom of night as part of their critical jobs transporting letters and parcels across the country. But that's not the only occupational hazard they face on a daily basis.Perhaps no everyday danger facing USPS mail carriers is more famous than the risk of a getting nipped by fido.Each year, hundreds of mail carriers are bitten by dogs while making their rounds. In 2023 alone, 5,300 Postal Service employees were attacked, according to new numbers released by the USPS this week.Next week, USPS will be running a public service campaign to promote "National Dog Bite Awareness Week," which it hopes will remind residents to make sure their beloved pets are leashed up or safely locked inside the home when the postman comes knocking.“When letter carriers deliver mail in our communities, dogs that are not secured or leashed can become a nemesis and unpredictable and attack,” said Leeann Theriault, USPS employe...

LAUSD, labor partners agree on work-year calendars through 2025 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

The Los Angeles Unified School District has reached an agreement with two of its largest labor partners on work-year calendars for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years. Included in the calendars are a three-week long winter break for the next two years and three additional instructional days to each year in order to make up for the days lost during the strike in March 2023. The calendars also include a voluntary Winter Recess Academy during the first week of winter break to provide targeted instruction and enrichment, meals and supervision for students. “In implementing the instructional calendars, we remain committed to mitigating learning loss and recognizing economic challenges faced by many of our families,” LAUSD said in a statement. “The revised calendars prioritize student learning, support for working families and the needs of Los Angeles Unified employees.”  LAUSD, teachers union reach tentative labor agreement Under the tentative agreement, the first d...

USPS to host passport fair to help ease international travel demands

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

The United States Postal Service will be hosting a passport fair on Sunday to help more Americans get passports just in time for the upcoming summer travel season.  The fair will take place at Barrington Post Office located at 200 S. Barrington Avenue in Los Angeles from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Appointments are not required. The top-ranked tourist attractions in California, according to TripAdvisor People will be assisted on a first-come, first-served basis and until the building’s 150 people capacity has been reached.Officials are recommending that people arrive early to avoid a potential line cut-off should the wait times exceed the hours of operation.To apply for a passport, customers must bring documents that prove one’s identity and U.S. citizenship.  To help streamline the passport application process, guests can also fill out forms and learn about passport costs online.Passport information can also be obtained by calling the National Passport Information Center toll-free...

Panel says California should pause organic waste recycling mandate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

California’s ambitious and expensive plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from landfills may itself be headed for the trash heap.A state oversight panel is recommending that California pause implementation of Senate Bill 1383, which requires cities and counties to offer organic waste recycling, because it is “falling short” of its goals, according to a draft report obtained by KTLA.The law set benchmarks for reducing the amount of organic waste sent to landfills by 50% by 2020 and 75% by 2025, using 2014 as a baseline.Instead, only about half of local governments are participating in the program and the amount of organic waste in landfills has actually increased in recent years, the Little Hoover Commission, which is comprised of current and former politicians and policy experts, said in the draft.A truck unloads organic waste to be used for composting at the Anaerobic Composter Facility in Woodland, Calif., Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)“Despite the importan...

Harry’s ‘cruelty’ to dying queen described by friend: ‘It takes the breath away’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

A friend of Queen Elizabeth II has questioned Prince Harry’s “special relationship” with the late queen and denounced his fervent claims that he and his wife Meghan Markle were a great source of delight and comfort to her in the last two years of her life.The opposite is true, the unnamed friend has explained in a new interview with the Daily Beast. The renegade Duke of Sussex caused his 96-year-old grandmother anguish when she was dying and in physical pain, mostly because of the way that he and his American wife decided to go public with their various grievances against certain members of the royal family and the institution she had represented for 70 years.If Harry truly was close to his grandmother or cared for her well-being, he should have been sensitive to the fact that she was in “a lot of pain” in the last years of her life, particularly after the April 2021 death of her husband, Prince Philip, the friend suggested to he Daily Beast.LONDON, ENG...

Takeover bank robbery led feds into Northern California woods for modern day treasure hunt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — On Sept. 16, 2020, two masked men burst into a Tri Counties Bank branch in Eureka, pointed a replica semi-automatic pistol at the clerk and left with $32,916 in cash.The robbers split up the loot relatively evenly and went their separate ways. Police eventually tracked down the pair and the money, but doing so required officers to trudge through the Northern California woods on a modern-day treasure hunt led by one of the suspects.The man who led police to more than $15,000 in cash he’d buried in the Humboldt County woods has been identified in court records as 37-year-old Wyatt Waylon Whitlow. On April 27, in a federal courthouse in San Francisco, Senior U.S. District Judge William Orrick sentenced Whitlow to five years in prison, the same sentence Whitlow’s co-defendant, Nolan Colegrove, received in 2021, court records show.Police solved the robbery in a matter of hours, after tracking down an abandoned Ford F-250 truck registered to Whitlow that ...

This East Bay city has seen a drop in violent crime. Here's why.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

RICHMOND, Calif. (KRON) -- In the midst of reports about surging crime in the Bay Area, one East Bay city has seen a reduction in gun violence leading to a dramatic drop in violent crimes, despite low police staffing levels. In the City of Richmond, proactive policing and community outreach have played pivotal roles in diminishing crime.By the end of 2023, the Richmond Police Department expects to be at its full allotted staffing level. The agency is gaining more interest from recruits and once fully trained, the additional boots on the ground will alleviate the excessive overtime officers are working now. Mugshot released of San Jose crime spree suspect; 3 dead "There's light at the end of the tunnel, which is great for the department," said Richmond PD Sergeant Donald Patchin.In the meantime, the current police force is managing through lowering levels of crime. Since the start of the year, from month-to-month, almost all violent crimes are trending down, including sexual assaul...